Landscape changes in East Berlin after 1989: A comprehensive grounded theory analysis through three case studies Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) im Fach Geographie eingereicht an der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät II der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin von Mary Hartshorn Dellenbaugh, BS, MA Präsident der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Prof. Dr. Jan-Hendrik Olbertz Dekan der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät II Prof. Dr. Elmar Kulke Gutachter/Gutachterin 1. Prof. Dr. Dagmar Haase 2. Prof. Dr. Dieter Rink 3. Dr. Andrej Holm Tag der Verteidigung: 29 November 2013 Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Tables .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................. 8 Zusammenfassung.......................................................................................................................................... 9 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Ozymandias, Nationalism and Symbolic Capital .................................................................................. 10 1.2 Symbolism, Nation-Building, and the End of the Cold War ............................................................. 11 1.3 Berlin between East and West ..................................................................................................................... 12 1.4 This Research Project ...................................................................................................................................... 13 1.5 Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................................................... 14 1.6 Organization of this Book .............................................................................................................................. 14 2. Theoretical, Historical, & Scientific Context................................................................................... 16 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 16 2.2 Theoretical Background ................................................................................................................................. 16 2.2.1 The Concept of “Landscape” in Cultural Studies and New Cultural Geography ................... 16 2.2.2 Absolute Space vs. Relative Space ............................................................................................................... 18 2.2.3 Space as a Political Good – National Spaces, National Narratives ............................................. 18 2.2.4 Space as an Economic Good – Branding, Marketing & Tourism .................................................. 20 2.3. Historical Background .................................................................................................................................... 22 2.3.1 Germany’s Development and Narrative during Division and Reunification ......................... 22 2.3.2 The Politicization of Berlin’s Urban Landscape ................................................................................... 24 2.4 Semiotics as an Empirical Entry Point ...................................................................................................... 27 2.4.1 Peirce, Saussure, and the Sign ...................................................................................................................... 27 2.4.2 Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Axes ........................................................................................................ 28 2.4.3 Greimas’ Semiotic Square ............................................................................................................................... 29 2.4.4 Denotation, Connotation, & Orders of Signification ........................................................................... 29 2.5 Summary ............................................................................................................................................................... 30 3. Methods ....................................................................................................................................................... 31 3.1 Structure and Development of the Project ............................................................................................. 32 3.2 Case Study Selection ......................................................................................................................................... 34 3.3 Core Questions ................................................................................................................................................... 37 3.4 Data Collection ................................................................................................................................................... 37 3.4.1 Demographic Data ............................................................................................................................................. 38 3.4.2 Interviews ............................................................................................................................................................... 40 3.4.3 Newspaper Articles ............................................................................................................................................ 43 3.4.4 Primary Literature about Berlin ................................................................................................................. 44 3.5 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................................................... 44 3.5.1 Quantitative Approach .................................................................................................................................... 44 3.5.2 Coding and Qualitative Content Analysis ................................................................................................ 46 3.5.3 Discourse Analysis .............................................................................................................................................. 47 3.5.4 Semiotic Analysis ................................................................................................................................................ 48 3.5.5 Inductive Analysis and Synthesis ................................................................................................................. 48 1 4. Results .......................................................................................................................................................... 49 4.1 Semiotic Analysis ............................................................................................................................................... 49 4.1.1 East Berlin as a Syntagm ................................................................................................................................ 49 4.1.2 Place Names .......................................................................................................................................................... 50 4.1.3 Restructuring ....................................................................................................................................................... 54 4.2 Discourse Analysis ............................................................................................................................................ 61 4.3 Inductive Analysis and Synthesis ............................................................................................................... 65 4.3.1 Urban Development Trends in Germany since 1949 .......................................................................... 65 4.3.2 Urban Development Trends in Eastern Europe since 1989 ............................................................ 68 4.3.3 East Germany-Specific Development Trends since 1989 ................................................................. 70 4.3.4 Material Development Trends in Berlin since 1989 ........................................................................... 74 5. Discussion & Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 77 5.1 Revisiting the Hypotheses ............................................................................................................................. 77 H1: Semiotics is an effective analytical method for the analysis of cultural landscapes. ............ 77 H2: The symbolic landscape of East Berlin after 1990 was dominated by a western cultural mythos which pervaded the symbolic capital and architectural style of the new/old capital